SEPTA Silverliner is made in the USA

SEPTA wants you to know the shiny, new Silverliner V is more than a train, it is an economic engine that has created local manufacturing jobs.

True, the steel shells comes from Korea, but once at the Hyundai Rotem's South Philadelphia plant, workers fill them with Made in America, even made in the region, stuff.

For example, part of the air conditioning system is from a Chester County firm, the communications gear for the engineer is from Montgomery County, and the million dollars worth of window glass is from Bucks County.

The motors, air brakes, and couplers come from near Pittsburgh.

In all, 62% of the value of one railcar is from US made components and are assembled here.

"It's the gift that keeps on giving for the region; they have 300 some employees here. They probably spin off another 1,000 in the region," SEPTA chairman Pasquale Deon said.

The workforce at the Morton based UTC doubled because of Rotem business.

They build wheel assemblies called bogies.

After watching manufacturing giants like Budd and Westinghouse close their doors, these are good times.

"I believe Hyundai Rotem is fulfilling that spot that Budd left; it's giving opportunity to the people in the city to employ people," Frank Ursone of the UTC Corporation said.

So does all this come to a screeching halt now that SEPTA's build is finished?

No.

The railcar builder is in it for the long haul.

Already it has orders from two other transit agencies and is looking for more.

"Chicago, which is CTA, New York City's Long Island Railroad, there are some other projects on the horizon we are also after," Andrew Hyer of Hyundai Rotem USA said.

After today's ceremony, workers were back on the job, assembling some of the 48 cars destined for Boston's MBTA.